Where do I put my (D)SMB?

[DanielRJones]

I am not aware of any "crack bottle" DSMBs that use cylinders that have U.S. regulatory approvals. I have a 1 cf cylinder that I use for soaking regs that I suppose I could repurpose into a DSMB crack bottle, with effort.

There are a few that use CO2 which are pretty common around by me.

 

[KenGordon]

I am not aware of any "crack bottle" DSMBs that use cylinders that have U.S. regulatory approvals. I have a 1 cf cylinder that I use for soaking regs that I suppose I could repurpose into a DSMB crack bottle, with effort.

Since they are filled from your main cylinder that may not matter. They are made by the same people as Ali 80s.

It is best to throw them away every so often, they domget water in them if you are not quick about closing the valve again.

 

[Storker]

I’ll check if the hole is big enough for my index finger to get into the hole when I get it this coming Friday

I'd advise quite strongly against putting your finger into the hole. Just hold the hole in the spool lightly between thumb an forefinger. That way you aren't attached in any way to the very buoyant dSMB.

If you do not have joy with the spool try a reel I find them alot easier to use. Yes they are a bit bigger but allow you to hold on and with 5mm gloves on you still have control over everything. With no gloves spool may be fine but I could not control it anywhere as easy as a reel.

I have no issues handling a spool while wearing gloves. Be it 5mm 5-fingers, 6.5mm 3-fingers or drygloves with wool liners.

 

[Neilwood]

I'd advise quite strongly against putting your finger into the hole. Just hold the hole in the spool lightly between thumb an forefinger. That way you aren't attached in any way to the very buoyant dSMB.


I have no issues handling a spool while wearing gloves. Be it 5mm 5-fingers, 6.5mm 3-fingers or drygloves with wool liners.

That is worth emphasising - never ever be in the situation where you are physically attached to your dsmb via a clip or by a wedged finger. Should anything untoward happen to the line between you and the surface such as a your line getting tangled or a boat catching it or even someone picking it up and moving off with it (has happened before to people on this forum) you should be able to simply let go and not be dragged after it to the surface.

 

[MikkelBC]

I'm currently a warm water vacation diver and don't own a drysuit (yet), although I regularly wear a 5mm wetsuit. Likely getting some kind of bp/w setup, just not sure which one yet. So I suspect clipping onto a d-ring somewhere makes the most sense unless I buy a really big pocket to put it in, seeing how the dsmb plus spool is not small.

I got my local dive shop to glue pockets on to my warm water wetsuit. I recommend that solution. Pockets are available for this purpose, e.g. like these:
DIRZONE

 

[Storker]

you should be able to simply let go and not be dragged after it to the surface.

...or your finger be dragged after it to the surface

 

[stuartv]

Just last week I was on a dive that went to rat sh1t in a hurry. On my way out of dodge, I launched my dsmb at 10m, on my way to 5m for the stop. The current emptied my 50m spool. The line was near horizontal (and I was like Mary Poppins being dragged)

An excellent example of why you shouldn't rely on marks on the line to tell you your depth.